NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter said he is "not worried
about the league rattling its sabres about altering" the CBA
this summer, according to Glenn Rogers of the SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS. Hunter: "First of all, I don't buy
(Commissioner David) Stern's claim that the league is in
financial trouble and that 15 or 16 teams are going to lose
money this season. Not after they just signed those new TV
contracts worth billions of dollars. Show us the books."
Hunter went on to say that the union is "a lot more
organized" than it was during the owners lockout in '95.
Hunter: "Stern has an international army of 700 people. But
I have an army of 350 players. If the owners were to (fight
us and lock us out) today, we'd take them to the wall. We
know we are the product" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 1/7).
ON TOUR: Jazz players met with a union rep on Wednesday
to discuss labor strategies and talked of the possibility of
staging games on their own if the owners lock them out,
according to Michael Lewis of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Jazz
player rep Chris Morris said that the union "has discussed
hiring trainers on its own to help care for players if they
decide to organize games themselves, but he did not provide
any other specifics." Lewis: "Intriguing as it might seem,
the barnstorming idea Morris mentioned is probably not much
more than public posturing" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 1/8).